The Third Degree
by Keitorin Asthore
Summary: Spoilers for Never Been Kissed. Finn is determined to find out what's going on with Kurt, even if it means giving that Dalton Academy guy the third degree in order to get his answers. Oneshot. COMPLETE.


Disclaimer: Glee belongs to Ryan Murphy and Fox, not me.

* * *

"Who's the dude with Kurt?"

Finn glanced over his shoulder and frowned. "I don't know," he shrugged. "You know him?"

Rachel followed his gaze. "I think he's wearing the Dalton uniform," she said.

Puck snickered. "Whoa, so Hummel actually did spy for us," he said. "I thought he was just BS'ing us."

"So why is he here?" Tina asked, frowning. "Is Kurt letting the Dalton kid spy on us?"

"This is the lunchroom, not rehearsal," Mike pointed out. "Maybe he and Kurt just hit it off."

Puck elbowed Finn in the side. "Or they're just _hitting it off_," he snickered.

Quinn rolled her eyes. "That doesn't even make sense," she said.

Finn looked back at Kurt and the guy in the Dalton uniform. They were up at the cash register, each of them balancing a tray, but Kurt was hanging back while the other guy pulled a couple of bills out of his wallet. It sort of looked like a date, except that Finn had never seen a date that involved one half of the couple looking pale and terrified.

"Finn?" The other guy walked over to a small corner table, Kurt trailing behind him. They sat down across from each other, and even though the Dalton guy was smiling, Kurt looked like he was in another world altogether. And not a very good one, either.

"Hello? Earth to Finn!"

He shook his head. Rachel was staring at him with that frowny, put-out expression she usually reserved for the sentence "someone else will sing the solo today." He shifted uncomfortably.

"What are you doing?" Rachel asked. "Are you spying on him?"

He glanced around at the other people at the table, all of them caught in their own conversations and eating their lunches. He leaned closer, putting his mouth close to her ear. "I think Kurt's upset," he said. "I'll be right back, okay?"

She sighed, but nodded, patting his hip as he stood up and unfolded himself from the table. He walked across the cafeteria, ducking around kids making their way to empty tables, and made his way over to Kurt and the Dalton guy. They didn't notice him at first, but he cleared his throat and they looked up.

"Can I help you, Finn Hudson?" Kurt asked coolly. He shrugged out of his jacket and draped it over the back of his chair.

"I just wanted to, uh, introduce myself," Finn said, looking at the Dalton guy.

The guy just grinned, as if strange people just walked up to him out of the blue on a regular basis. "You're Finn Hudson, I suppose," he said. He stood up and offered his hand. "I'm Blaine."

Finn shook his hand. Blaine's grip was firm and confident, which was good, he guessed. "I'm sort of his stepbrother," he blurted out.

"No, he's not," Kurt said quietly. Blaine sat back down, glancing back and forth between the two of them.

Finn ignored him. "Our parents have been dating for a couple months now," he said.

"I see," Blaine said, smiling. Even though Kurt was steadily ignoring him, Finn could tell that Blaine understood what he was getting at.

"So, you're just here to visit?" Finn said.

"Yes," Kurt said. He poked his plastic fork around in his salad. "Thanks for stopping by."

Finn frowned. "I guess Dalton's off for today, then?" he said.

Blaine glanced at Kurt, who stubbornly refused to look up. "Kurt asked me to help him with something," he said.

Kurt's head shot up. "No, Blaine, I don't really want to…" His voice trailed off.

Blaine pulled out his wallet. "Those smoothies look pretty good," he said easily, placing the wallet in Kurt's hand. "Why don't you get yourself one?"

"I don't really want one," Kurt whispered. Finn didn't miss Blaine's encouraging smile and the way he gently squeezed Kurt's fingers, and he wasn't surprised when Kurt got up without another word and headed back towards the lunch line.

Finn sat down in Kurt's seat. "What's wrong with him?" he asked without preamble.

"Finn, I know you're concerned about him, but I don't think Kurt is really receptive to what you want to say right now," Blaine said.

He leaned back, crossing his arms across his chest and frowning. "So there is something wrong," he said. "I mean, he's been sort of moody ever since we got back to school this fall, but he's been really out of it lately."

Blaine glanced over his shoulder at Kurt. "It's not really my place to tell you exactly what happened," he said. "But I don't think he'll ever open up completely on his own if someone doesn't give him a little push." He sighed. "Kurt's been having a lot of trouble with bullies lately. Things escalated yesterday, and he called me so I could help him."

"And he couldn't ask me?" Finn said, his voice rising.

"Look, Finn, I can tell you care about Kurt," Blaine said. "And I know you've known him a lot longer than I have. But I don't know if you can help him with this."

"With what?" Finn said. He leaned forward in his seat. "How bad is it that he can't talk to me about it?"

Blaine looked at him squarely, his dark eyes unreadable. "From what Kurt's told me about you, he hasn't talked to you in a while," he said.

Finn squirmed under Blaine's level gaze. "Well, we might have gotten into a fight last spring," he mumbled. "But I thought we were at least okay."

Blaine smiled gently. "I haven't known Kurt for very long, but I'm pretty sure he's not the type to run to other people with his problems in the first place," he said.

Finn leaned back in his chair. "But he didn't call any of us," he said softly. "Not me…not Mercedes…not Quinn…"

"I think Kurt called me because he needed someone who understands what he's going through," Blaine said. "I can't imagine you've ever been teased because of your sexuality, have you?"

Finn's head shot up. "So you're-"

"Gay? Mm-hm. I came out in middle school," Blaine said easily. He folded his arms on the table. "The bullying was pretty awful. I managed to talk my parents into letting me transfer to Dalton Academy. They liked the academics…I liked the zero-tolerance policies."

"Yeah," Finn murmured, unable to think of any other kind of response. He scratched the back of his neck. "So…Kurt's been getting picked on, but it got worse?"

"A lot worse," Blaine said quietly. "He called me last night in tears over it."

"He was crying?" Finn repeated. His heart plummeted to the pit of his stomach. He had only seen Kurt cry twice- once because he was scared for his father, and once because he caused it. "What happened?"

Blaine took a deep breath and drummed his fingers against the table. "On one hand, I don't think he wants me to tell you," he said. "On the other hand…I don't think he'll ever tell anyone, much less his family, and definitely not any sort of authority figure."

"I won't tell anyone else," Finn said. "He's the closest thing I've got to a brother, Blaine. Even if…we haven't been all that close lately. I have to know if he's okay."

Blaine slowed his drumming fingers to a slow, steady tap. "Did you know that Kurt hadn't been kissed before?" he asked.

"Yeah," Finn said. "Well, I mean, he kissed Brittany, but he was just kind of going through a phase and I figured it didn't count."

Blaine quirked an eyebrow, but he folded his arms again. "Kurt was forced into kissing a guy he didn't want to kiss," he said. "It's gotten him really upset, and he doesn't know what he's supposed to do about it."

Finn stared at him blankly. "Are you serious?" he sputtered. "Somebody…okay, wow. No wonder he's so mad." He dragged his hands through his hair. "Who did it? Somebody at this school?"

Blaine grinned. "I see the protective brother is coming out," he said. "I think I've said enough. If he wants to explain it further to you, he will." He resumed tapping his fingers on the table. "I'm glad you know. I can't be here to stand up for Kurt all the time, but somebody needs to."

Finn frowned. "Are you…do you want to date him or something?" he asked.

Blaine shrugged. "I certainly like him," he said. "Kurt is…he's so smart, and sweet, and I definitely think he's attractive. But he's scared right now, and not all that confident. I don't want to take advantage of him when he's vulnerable."

Finn's frown tightened into a scowl. "Good," he said. "I mean, if Kurt really likes you, and you start dating or whatever, then cool, but I'm glad you're not going to use him or anything."

Blaine laughed. "Geez, if you're like this, I'm sort of scared to meet Kurt's parents now," he said.

Finn relaxed and grinned. "Yeah, I'm a CareBear compared to Burt," he said.

"What are you guys laughing at?" Kurt asked. He stood at Finn's elbow, a large smoothie cup in his hands. His eyes still looked wide and too bright in his pale face.

Finn stood up hastily. "Just talking about what it's going to be like when you bring this guy home to meet Burt," he said, doing his best to keep his tone light.

Kurt blinked, then slowly started turning red. "Uh…"

"Sit down and eat something," Blaine said.

Kurt sank into his chair, still blushing. "Is that really what you guys were talking about?" he said.

Blaine smiled and put his hand on Kurt's arm. "Finn's just worried about you," he said.

Kurt glanced up at Finn, as if he doubted that completely. Finn put his arm around his shoulders. "We all have," he said. "I'm glad you can talk to Blaine, but…just remember that you can always come to us, all right?"

Kurt blinked. "Okay," he stammered. "Thanks."

Finn gave him an awkward little side hug, smooshing Kurt's shoulders against his hips. Blaine smiled at Finn over the top of Kurt's head, and even though he was still sort of upset, Finn grinned back.

If Kurt couldn't talk to him, at least he was finally talking to someone.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

Sorry. I think this is just the dumbest thing I've ever written.

But I adore Blaine already. I want him to give Kurt a real kiss and they can date and be adorable together.

And I really want Finn and Kurt to argue everything out, and then they can be brothers, and be mega happy.

Also, I really want to see Burt meeting Blaine. Oh mah gah, what's Burt going to do when Kurt brings home a handsome boy? It'll be awesome.

Gah. Oy, with the poodles already. I just want to see the next Kurt-and-Blaine centric episode.

(Side note: I am awful at titles. Seriously. This one is titled "i don't know what to name stories" on my laptop. "Ducks, Appendicitis, and Ginger Ale" was originally titled "and then they mother kurt to death." And usually I just list the main characters' names. So...this is a horrible title for a mediocre oneshot, and I'm very sorry.)


End file.
